🎒 Microlesson

🪞 Reflect

Do your in-office direct reports perform differently than remote employees? 

💡 Concept

Managing remote employees can be challenging for managers, especially if you’re used to managing direct reports in the same office. 

When you can't see your team every day, it's easy to slip into habits like micromanaging, scheduling unnecessary sync meetings, or using other forms of tracking input. These methods may make you feel as if you are managing performance, but in reality, you're just counting minutes, not results. 

Hybrid teams are especially at risk of proximity bias, which can have a major impact when it's time for annual performance reviews. Check your habits and make sure your performance management habits are remote-first, which will serve all members of your hybrid team.

Start by focusing on these four areas:  

1. Focus on output. Set concrete objectives and measure an employee’s success based on their progress toward specific goals and deliverables. 

2. Clearly define success. Make sure that expectations for a task or project are clear and assess whether they can be completed equally by remote and in-office team members.

3. Ensure equal access. Make sure all team members have access to the same information, opportunities, and resources.

4. Provide regular feedback virtually. Don’t wait to meet synchronously to provide constructive criticism to members of your team. Give them regular feedback and recognize their contributions through asynchronous channels.

🎬 Take Action

Take the following actions to manage remote and hybrid employee performance:

• Meet with your direct reports according to a regular schedule.

• Establish and communicate clear expectations for performance and productivity.

• Provide timely and constructive feedback to both remote and in-office team members.

• Trust your team to meet goals with minimal supervision.

• Measure success based on output, not time spent.

• Check in with all direct reports asynchronously.

• Ensure that progress on all projects is measured by completion of tasks and milestones, and tracked using a project management or other work-tracking tool.

• Encourage your team to present solutions, not problems, and provide resources to team members experiencing blocks.

• Provide recognition and praise to remote and in-office team members equally.

🧠 Keep Learning

Learn more about how to manage performance in remote and hybrid teams with Leadplaceless.

✅ Check In

🎁 Learn with your team!

Refer our weekly microlessons to your team members to learn as a group! Just follow the instructions in the section below to get started.